Three travelling would-be thieves have been banned from entering Cumbria after a dramatic night time police chase during which an angle grinder was hurled from a speeding car.
Two officers on mobile patrol approached a Vauxhall Insignia in a layby off the A6, near Penrith, just after midnight on December 9, 2020. The lights of the Vauxhall were on and it was parked behind a curtain-sided lorry, Carlisle Crown Court heard today. There had been previous thefts from similar HGVs.
The Vauxhall was being driven by 30-year-old Grant Bower, whose passengers included Thomas Law, 29, and Carlton Watson, 26, but it drove off at speed.
Items — including an angle grinder and two mobile phones — were thrown from the vehicle as police gave chase before it was stopped in Penrith town centre with other officers assisting.
Five pairs of gloves were found inside the car.
West Yorkshire-based Bower, Law and Watson made no comment when interviewed but each later admitted a charge of going equipped for theft having travelled more than 100 miles to commit the crime.
They were sentenced by a judge who heard Bower and Law were punished at the crown court in February for an almost identical offence committed in March, 2020, when items were hurled from a speeding car during a 90mph police chase on the A66 near Penrith as the COVID lockdown loomed.
Barristers for Bower and Law said they had complied with community work attached to suspended prison sentence orders imposed for the earlier crime. A lawyer for lightly-convicted Watson said he was remorseful.
All three men had eight-month prison sentences suspended for 18 months. Bower, of Briarmains Road, Birstall, Batley, and Law, of Providence Court, Dewsbury, must complete three-month electronically monitored night time curfews. Watson, of Millers Croft, Batley, received a rehabilitation requirement.
Recorder Mark Ainsworth imposed a further condition which bans the three men from entering Cumbria for 18 months. “Unless there is a reason for them to be here, let’s keep them out,” said the judge. “It seems I should do everything I can to protect people in this county.”
